advisor-report

name	advisor-report
description	Generate an email-ready progress report addressed to the student's advisor, based on git history since a provided date and the current state of thesis sections

/advisor-report

Generates an email-ready thesis progress report addressed to your advisor, summarising what has changed since your last meeting.

Invocation

Run /advisor-report <date> where <date> is the date of your last advisor meeting in YYYY-MM-DD format.

Example: /advisor-report 2026-03-15

If no date is provided, ask: "Please provide the date of your last advisor meeting (YYYY-MM-DD format)." Wait for the answer before proceeding.

Process

Step 1 — Read student context

Read docs/student-profile.md. Extract:

• Student full name
• Advisor name
• Thesis working title
• Research question

If docs/student-profile.md does not exist or contains only placeholder text (e.g., still reads "TBD" or has no filled-in answers), stop and tell the student:

"Please run /interview first to set up your student profile before generating an advisor report."

Step 2 — Get changed files

Run:

git log --since="<date>" --name-only --pretty=format:

Collect the list of file paths that appear in the output. A thesis file is any path matching thesis/0*.md.

If the command fails with "not a git repository", tell the student: "This folder is not a git repository. Please follow the git workflow instructions in README.md to set up git before generating an advisor report."

If the command returns no output (no commits since <date>), treat all sections as not changed — use the one-liner format for all substantive sections.

Step 3 — Read all thesis sections

Read each of the following files in order:

File	Section name
thesis/00_abstract.md	Abstract
thesis/01_introduction.md	Introduction
thesis/02_literature_review.md	Literature Review
thesis/03_research_question.md	Research Question
thesis/04_data.md	Data
thesis/05_methodology.md	Methodology
thesis/06_results.md	Results
thesis/07_robustness.md	Robustness Tests
thesis/08_discussion.md	Discussion
thesis/09_conclusion.md	Conclusion

A thesis section is considered changed since <date> if its file path (e.g., thesis/03_research_question.md) appears anywhere in the git log output from Step 2.

For each section, classify as:

• Substantive — contains original prose beyond headings and [placeholder] markers. A single sentence of real text is sufficient to classify a section as Substantive. Sections with only citations and no surrounding prose, or only data tables with no narrative, count as Empty.
• Empty — contains only headings, > comment lines, or [placeholder] markers

Step 4 — Write the report

Compose the report using the template below. Apply these rules strictly:

• Only describe what is actually in the thesis files. Do not invent progress or pad empty sections.
• For substantive sections changed since <date>: write one progress-framed paragraph beginning with "Since our last meeting I have..." describing the key arguments, approach, or findings in plain academic English.
• For substantive sections NOT changed since <date>: write a single line — "The [section name] was not updated since our last meeting."
• For empty sections: write a single line — "The [section name] has not yet been started."
• Write in first person as the student, addressed to the advisor.
• Use cautious academic language when interpreting content: "This suggests...", "The evidence is consistent with...", "A possible interpretation is..."
• Never use: "This proves...", "Clearly...", "Undoubtedly..."
• Do not claim work the student has not done.

Report template:

Subject: Thesis Progress Update — [Student Name]

Dear [Advisor Name],

I am writing to update you on the progress of my master's thesis, "[Working Title]", since our last meeting on [date].

## Progress Since [date]

### Abstract
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Introduction
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Literature Review
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Research Question
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Data
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Methodology
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Results
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Robustness Tests
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Discussion
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

### Conclusion
[One paragraph or one-liner per rules above]

## Current Research Question

My research question is: [RQ from student-profile.md]

## Next Steps

[2--3 honest next steps based on which sections are still empty or in progress. Base this only on what is actually missing in the thesis files -- do not invent plans.]

Best regards,
[Student Name]

Step 5 — Save

Write the completed report to docs/advisor-report.md.

Step 6 — Confirm

Tell the student:

"Your advisor report has been saved to docs/advisor-report.md. Please review it before sending — it reflects only what is currently written in your thesis files."